The second day of the knockout stage is here. The United States and Dominican Republic—the latter of which did so in dominant fashion—claimed their spots in the semifinals. Today we find out who their opponents will be.
Game No. 1: Puerto Rico at Italy (Repubblica Italiana)
Venue: Daikin Park — Houston, Texas, USA
A fun squad in their own right, the Puerto Ricans finished pool play as the second seed in Pool A with a 3-1 record (with their only loss being to Canada). Now Puerto Rico faces an uphill battle to get back to the finals like they did in 2013
and 2017.
The “Quarter-Rican” right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals will make the start. His previous outing against Colombia went well as he struck out three batters over four scoreless innings. Meanwhile, new Rockies infielder Willi Castro has been a major contributor with his glove and bat. Castro is 3-for-10 at the plate with four walks , two RBIs, and a stolen base.
The surprise darling of the tournament so far has been Team Italy, who finished the group stage as one of just three undefeated teams after an upset of Team USA and a sound drubbing of Team Mexico.
Italy has combined solid pitching with power in their bats to make it this far. They have the second most home runs in the tournament, leading to a motivated—and highly caffeinated—squad. Each home run hitter is greeted in the dugout with a shot of espresso for their efforts.
Making the start for the Italians is Los Angeles Angels lefty Sam Aldegheri. Aldegheri pitched a masterful 4 2/3 innings against Brazil during pool play, striking out eight batters while giving up just one hit and no earned runs.
First Pitch: 1:00 PM MDT
TV: FS1
Radio: MLB Audio; Sirius XM
Lineups:
RHP Seth Lugo vs LHP Sam Aldegheri
Game No. 2: Venezuela (República Bolivariana de Venezuela) vs Japan (日本)
Venue: loanDepot Park — Miami, Florida, USA
The Venezuelans may be the underdogs against Samurai Japan, but they are a formidable squad that enjoyed an excellent group stage. They only had one loss because someone had to lose their match-up with powerhouse Dominican Republic.
Venezuela’s bullpen has been a strength alongside good performances at the plate by Luis Arraez, Ronald Acuña Jr, and Ezequiel Tovar. 2024 Philadelphia Phillies All-Star lefty Ranger Suárez—now with the Boston Red Sox—will be making his second start of the tournament. During the group stage he made one two inning start, giving up one earned run on three hits with a strikeout and a walk.
Undefeated in pool play, Samurai Japan dominated Pool C and are one of the favorites for total victory in this year’s tournament. Last year’s champions will be led on the mound by Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2025 World Series MVP pitched a hitless 2 2/3 innings of shutout baseball with two strikeouts against Chinese Taipei during the group stage.
First Pitch: 7:00 PM MDT
TV: Fox
Radio: MLB Audio; Sirius XM
Lineups:
LHP Ranger Suárez vs RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
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